Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir has asked his advisors to examine plans to tackle the RHI fiasco given to him by Simon Hamilton, he said this evening.

The Sinn Fein MLA revealed he has "finally received a ‘plan’ to tackle the Renewable Heat Incentive debacle".

And he added he would ensure that there would be no botched solution to the disastrous scheme.

Mr Ó Muilleoir said: "I am pleased that, finally, the Minister for the Economy has submitted to my department a ‘plan' to put right the RHI debacle.

“I have been asking for proposals to tackle the £85,000 daily loss to our budgets since my appointment.

“I regret that the Department didn’t come forward with this ‘plan’ either after the Comptroller and Auditor General report in July 2016 or the PwC report in October 2016. Sadly, it took the Spotlight exposé to spur the Department into action.

“I promised the public a politics-free, public purse-focused assessment of the proposals by Minister Hamilton — even though he has said they have been devised in collaboration with former economy minister Arlene Foster who acknowledges she is the architect of the RHI mess.

“I remain of the opinion that a temporary ‘sticking plaster’ solution is not the best way forward but will allow officials to now reach their own conclusion on that issue.

“I have therefore tasked my top economists, legal advisors and accountants to conduct a thorough and professional assessment of the proposals before reporting back to me with their recommendations.